Father's Day
by Blue Flyhight
Summary: A One Shot in which Han comes upon Luke in the hanger celebrating Father's Day by himself. Has some HanLuke friendship and a little LukeVader time too.


A/N: This is supposed to take place right before Vader discovers who Luke is, for those of you who might like to know.

Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars

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"Kid... what're you doing?" It was accompanied by a sigh – an annoyed sigh that spoke great volumes of the recent fight Han had been in with the princess.

Luke looked up, surprised, from his perch in the hanger, before sliding down his X-wing to join Han on the floor. A confused look graced his face that nearly made Han want to snort with laughter.

"What do you mean, Han?"

Han quickly fought down the urge to roll his eyes at Luke's obliviousness before gesturing impatiently towards the top of the X-wing. "This! What is all this... stuff?"

A quick turn of Luke's head, and both men's eyes were now settled on a rather odd collection of objects that rested on the nose of Luke's ship – an old and beat up datapad, a model of a Tie fighter, some pieces of scrap medal, Luke's lightsaber, and a candle completed the rather odd selection. Han momentarily wondered if this was some weird Jedi thing, but couldn't for the life of him figure out what Luke planned to do with all the stuff he had gathered.

"Oh," said Luke, his face relaxing into a smile. "You know what day it is, don't you?"

Han, completely thrown off by the question, wasn't sure on whether to answer Luke seriously or not. He decided on sarcasm, Han was in a bad mood today.

"The day after yesterday?"

Now Luke's smile turned into a frown, nearly as quickly as it had come. "Today is Father's Day, Han."

"Father's Day?" Han sputtered. Of all the answers he could've received, Han really hadn't been expecting this one. But now as he looked over the strange items, Han was starting to see the connection. The datapad looked like it was the kind on which letters were written, and Han would bet credits that it was from that old man to Luke about his father; Luke's dad once was a pilot, hence the model Tie fighter... and hadn't the old man said something about him being a mechanic too? The lightsaber was Luke's father's as well. That only left the candle, but hey, maybe his dad had liked fire or something; Han didn't know.

The thing that Han _did_ know though was that the Kid was acting stupid. Luke was only going to make himself miserable, sitting outside here by himself, worrying about some old man of his who was dead and wasn't going to come back. And Han only thought it fair that he should say so.

"Come on, Kid. Father's Day? You're wasting your time out here. Everyone else is inside enjoying their dinner. We should be one of them."

Whatever the reply, Luke had obviously not been expecting this. Shock and indignance fought for dominance on his features until neither won out. "Han – " was the only thing Luke managed to say before he was interrupted by an angry barb from across the room.

"Just ignore him, Luke," snapped the almighty princess as she stomped across the room. "Han doesn't even have a father!"

"Well hey now, Princess!" shouted Han, now nearly completely flabbergasted by that sudden hit below the belt. He took a step back away from her as she joined the conversation, brain thinking rapidly for a quick retort. Nothing came to mind, and Han found himself pointing wildly at Luke to try and prove his original point. "Well, neither does he!"

Luke seemed a little hurt at that, and Leia, completely outraged.

"Why I never – " she shouted.

"And for that matter, you don't have one anymore either princess!"

There was a pause, as both Leia and Han realized that he had gone too far.

The awkward silence might've continued until: "Well," Han said gruffly – finally – now feeling apologetic. "Happy Father's Day, Luke. I'm sure your old man would be proud of ya... and probably think that you should go get some food with your buddy, Han, here who's risked life and limb to pull you from this old dusty hanger so you won't die of hungryness or something..." He looked back over at Leia, knew he should apologize but... "Princess."

There was another moment of silence. It was the closest Han would ever get to an apology to Leia and they all knew it. Too bad it wasn't enough.

"You-you-you despicable, nerf-herding, scum of the underworld – "

"Geeze, you try to help a guy!" said a now angry Han. "Sorry, Kid, but I'm out of here."

"I'm not finished with you yet, Han Solo!" yelled Leia, as she charged after him out of the hanger.

Luke watched them both go, amazed at how much the two could fight. But maybe it was just in their nature... he shook his head and smiled. And to think that he knew both Han and Leia worried about him. Luke knew that he was reckless, but honestly, the way they went at it he wondered if someone was going to get hurt one day. But that could wait until after Luke had dinner with Han later He only hoped Han could survive until he was finished here.

Turning around once more, Luke climbed back up onto his X-wing. Looking at each of the items once, fondly, Luke finally lit the candle. Once upon a time, Luke used to wish that his father would come back home to him. But now, Luke only wished that...

He closed his eyes, and for a second, Luke thought he could see the candle even though his eyes were closed.

"_Happy Father's Day, Dad."_

_-----_

On the bridge of the Super Star Destroyer _Executor_, Darth Vader stood, staring off into space. It was an activity he usually did when Darth Vader's mind was full, and full it was indeed. And the thought that preoccupied Vader's mind to the utmost, was the unidentified rebel pilot who had destroyed the Death Star. That this pilot was force sensitive was especially a concern to Vader, he would need to be destroyed immediately – though there was a chance this rebel pilot could be useful... no. Now was not the time to be thinking such thoughts. The first most concern was to discover his identity. And Darth Vader knew it was almost in his grasp, he could feel it. And, almost unconsciously, he found himself searching the stars, wondering on which one he would find the rebel he so sought after.

One star in particular caught Vader's attention. It seemed small and insignificant at first, but it slowly seemed to grow brighter until it looked like it was the burning flame from a candle. And even with his eyes closed, Vader could still see the flame... he suddenly realized that it was in fact Father's Day, a thought accompanied by the fact it was a good one... a _Happy Father's Day_. And just as Vader was beginning to wonder – was that a voice he heard?

"Sir?"

Darth Vader was suddenly jerked harshly back to reality. It took Vader only a second to remember where he was, and he turned, fixing his unnerving gaze on the man before him with only a brief thought that he didn't care about Father's Day anyway.

But even the officer couldn't be scared today of all days.

"Sir?" he repeated again, a slightly nervous smile gracing his lips.

"Sir, the rebel pilot you wanted the identity of, we found him."

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A/N: Yes, it could be better and I plan to go over and edit it. But I'm feeling lazy right now, plus I want to know people's opinions for when I go back and re-proofread this. As it is, a day or two away from this should freshen my perspective on it and make it easier for me to edit. 


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